I'd guess there were some supporters of President Donald Trump among the Harvard Law School Class of 2018.

Not many, perhaps. But some.

Sen. Jeff Flake made a wonderful speech to the law school graduates, laying out in strong, logical, occasionally eloquent terms why support for the president is not deserved, and in fact is dangerous to our democracy… yet I can’t help but believe the senator was speaking to the choir.

Flake said, “Our presidency has been debased by a figure who has a seemingly bottomless appetite for destruction and division and only a passing familiarity with how the constitution works.”

Trump supporters won’t like that. (I know this from personal experience and from lots and lots and LOTS of emails, etc.)

The truth may not be convincing

CLOSE

Speaking at Harvard Law School Class Day ceremonies, Senator Jeff Flake didn't mince words about President Donald Trump and his fellow members of Congress.
USA TODAY

It wouldn’t convince them of anything, even though it’s true.

But Flake did explain his reasoning.

I’m not sure if he could get a roomful of Trump supporters to listen to it, but he should give it a try.

He said, “If the only acceptable outcome in a matter of law or justice is a result that is satisfactory to the leader, then you might live in a democracy that is in trouble. If the leader attacks the legitimacy of any institution that does not pay him obeisance — say, the independent judiciary, or the free press — then you might live in a democracy that is in trouble. Further to that point: when a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him ‘fake news,’ it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

"It will be the work of your generation to make sure that this degradation of democracy does not continue — to see to it that our current flirtation with lawlessness and authoritarianism does not become a heritable trait to be passed down from this presidency.

"To be clear, we did not become great — and will never be great — by indulging and encouraging our very worst impulses. It doesn’t matter how many red caps you sell.”

Eloquent, though a little snarky

That’s all very true, if a little snarky at the end.

Also, I’m not sure the logic will get through to Trump supporters, many of whom believe that having a dictator-like president is okay with them as long as he maintains their status in society and protects them from what they believe to be the unwanted incursions of people of color and non-Christians.

When Flake leaves Washington, D.C., at the end of his term I would love to see him take his argument about Trump and Trump’s dangers away from safe sanctuaries like Harvard and into a less hospitable territory for missionaries of conscience like Flake.

A way to save one's soul

Arizona, for example.

As he told the Harvard law graduates, “You can go elsewhere for a job, but you cannot go elsewhere for a soul.”